The State Workertag:blogs.sacbee.com,2012-02-27:/the_state_worker//492013-11-02T02:05:56ZChronicling civil-service life for California state workersMovable Type 4.38The State Worker blog has moved to a new servertag:blogs.sacbee.com,2013:/the_state_worker//49.1109312013-11-02T02:01:05Z2013-11-02T02:05:56ZRoger Price
http://www.sacbee.com/stateworker/

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Chuck Reed scheduled for Bay Area, Los Angeles radio showstag:blogs.sacbee.com,2013:/the_state_worker//49.1092562013-10-17T13:14:12Z2013-10-17T00:23:11ZSan Jose Mayor Chuck Reed is scheduled to discuss his new public pension ballot proposal on two radio shows today. Reed and Robert Sapien Jr., president of San Jose Fire Fighters Local 230 will discuss pensions on KQED's "Forum" at...Jon OrtizSan Jose Mayor Chuck Reed is scheduled to discuss his new public pension ballot proposal on two radio shows today.

Click here to listen live from 11:20 a.m. to 11:40 a.m. The audio file will post on the station's website a little after 1 p.m. Go to the "AirTalk" webpage and scroll down to find the archive link.

IMAGE: www.freeclipart.com

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CalPERS weighs in on new public pension ballot proposaltag:blogs.sacbee.com,2013:/the_state_worker//49.1092412013-10-16T23:01:34Z2013-10-17T00:04:10ZOfficials with California's massive public pension fund, CalPERS, issued a press statement Wednesday on the new proposed ballot initiative on public employee pensions that restates the long-held position that those pensions are deferred compensation and a vested right under both...Jon OrtizOfficials with California's massive public pension fund, CalPERS, issued a press statement Wednesday on the new proposed ballot initiative on public employee pensions that restates the long-held position that those pensions are deferred compensation and a vested right under both federal and state law.

"CalPERS is bound by fiduciary duty to deliver the promised pension benefits according to the U.S. and California Constitutions, statutory law and case law," the release says. "The California voters placed these protections and duties in our Constitution to ensure that employees' pensions would be protected by CalPERS as their fiduciary and trustee. CalPERS will continue to support and defend our members' vested rights, in accordance with the laws of the land and our obligations under the federal and State constitutions."

Rather than downgrade pensions for government employees, CalPERS says, "a better solution would be to help those without pensions find ways to save for retirement ... Changes to pension benefit levels should be determined by the employer and the employees, and not at the ballot box. If this initiative were to pass, then all contractual rights in California could be in jeopardy."

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From the notebook: More quotes on California's public pensionstag:blogs.sacbee.com,2013:/the_state_worker//49.1092012013-10-16T19:05:00Z2013-10-16T19:05:29ZAs reported in today's Bee, the battle lines have been drawn now that a new group led by San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed has filed papers to put a public pension measure on the November 2014 ballot. What follows are...Jon OrtizAs reported in today's Bee, the battle lines have been drawn now that a new group led by San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed has filed papers to put a public pension measure on the November 2014 ballot.

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Reed, on union charges that he is using public pensions as a political stepping stone: "I'm not a candidate for another office. ... I'm not going to run for statewide office. Some people find it hard to believe, but that's just the facts."

Bill Whalen, Hoover Institution research fellow and speech writer for former Republican Gov. Pete Wilson, on the qualifying process that starts with submitting the measure to Democratic Attorney General Kamala Harris for a title and summary: "Let's see if it emerges unscathed from the AG."

On the strategy that organized labor will use to fight the measure: "They're going to look deep inside the initiative and pull a straw out and hope the whole thing collapses. They'll try to find one controversial element."

Jack Pitney, political science professor at Claremont McKenna College, on the impending fight between the initiative's advocates and organized labor: "Public employ unions have intensity on their side. The public has a more remote and distant concern. So the question is, does any group out there have an equally intense motivation to pass this?"

On whether overwhelming funding by either side will prevail: "Sure, money always wins elections. Just ask Gov. (Meg) Whitman. (Money) might get it to the ballot with a paid signature campaign, but labor is organized in every precinct in the state. ... If I were to be the mortgage, I'd bet (the unions) will win."

We can never get everything we learn into a news story. "From the Notebook" posts give you some of the extra details behind the news.

ILLUSTRATION: Gabi Campanario / Seattle Times

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From the notebook: California public pension initiative paperstag:blogs.sacbee.com,2013:/the_state_worker//49.1091362013-10-16T18:24:00Z2013-10-16T18:24:35ZAs we reported in today's fiber/cyber Bee, San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed on Tuesday filed a ballot initiative language with Attorney General Kamala Harris that would alter California's constitution to explicitly allow public employees' pensions to be changed prospectively. Until...Jon OrtizAs we reported in today's fiber/cyber Bee, San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed on Tuesday filed a ballot initiative language with Attorney General Kamala Harris that would alter California's constitution to explicitly allow public employees' pensions to be changed prospectively.

Until now, most legal experts have concluded that the state constitution protects pensions promised to workers on their first day at work as a "vested right."

Here are the documents that Reed and four other mayors of California cities submitted as a first step to putting the pension measure on the November 2014 ballot:

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Reed files public pension ballot proposal with California AGtag:blogs.sacbee.com,2013:/the_state_worker//49.1090512013-10-15T20:22:00Z2013-10-15T20:22:49ZSan Jose Mayor Chuck Reed filed papers Tuesday in the first step toward qualifying a public pension measure for a statewide vote in California, a move that drew instant criticism from public employee unions. "The Pension Reform Act of 2014"...Jon Ortiz
San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed filed papers Tuesday in the first step toward qualifying a public pension measure for a statewide vote in California, a move that drew instant criticism from public employee unions.

"The Pension Reform Act of 2014" would alter California's constitution to allow state and local government employers to cut pensions for current workers prospectively, while the benefits they have already earned would be protected.

"Skyrocketing retirement costs are crowding out funding for essential public services and pushing cities, counties and other government agencies closer to insolvency," Reed said in a statement released Tuesday afternoon.

Reed was joined by Democratic mayors Pat Morris of San Bernardino, Miguel Pulido of Santa Ana and Bill Kampe of Pacific Grove as well as Republican Mayor Tom Tait of Anaheim in submitting the proposed ballot initiative to the Attorney General's Office.

Union leaders have blasted the proposal and characterized Reed as a self-aggrandizing political lifer and puppet of Wall Street interests.

Dave Low, chairman of the union coalition Californians for Retirement Security, called the proposal an "extreme" one that breaks retirement promises made to millions of public employees. The coalition represents 1.6 million government workers.

Low also predicted that the proposed initiative would stir up the same labor forces that defeated Proposition 32 last November. That measure would have made it harder for unions to collect members' dues.

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VIDEO: Chuck Reed's public pension talk at Hoover Institutiontag:blogs.sacbee.com,2013:/the_state_worker//49.1089162013-10-15T19:22:00Z2013-10-15T19:22:29ZHere's video of San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed's keynote address on public pensions at Stanford's Hoover Institution on Wednesday, Oct. 9. As we reported last week, Reed said during a Q&A after his presentation that he would soon file papers...Jon Ortiz
Here's video of San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed's keynote address on public pensions at Stanford's Hoover Institution on Wednesday, Oct. 9.

As we reported last week, Reed said during a Q&A after his presentation that he would soon file papers to put a public pension measure on California's statewide ballot. That part of the video starts at roughly the 24-minute mark.

Reed, a Democrat, is proposing an amendment to the California state constitution that would allow state and local government employers to cut pensions prospectively for all employees, while pensions already earned would be protected.

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The Roundup: Pension fears prompt state worker exits; furloughs in OK; climate change and pensionstag:blogs.sacbee.com,2013:/the_state_worker//49.1090462013-10-15T16:36:48Z2013-10-15T16:41:32Z State workers face furloughs Nearly 400 Oklahoma state employees could be furloughed this week because of the federal budget impasse, Gov. Mary Fallin said Monday - Tulsa World State Appeals Ruling On Public Worker Layoffs To U.S. Supreme Court...Jon Ortiz

State workers face furloughs
Nearly 400 Oklahoma state employees could be furloughed this week because of the federal budget impasse, Gov. Mary Fallin said Monday - Tulsa World

State Appeals Ruling On Public Worker Layoffs To U.S. Supreme Court
HARTFORD, Conn. -- Connecticut officials have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a court ruling that said former Gov. John G. Rowland's administration violated state employees' constitutional rights when it laid off 2,800 workers based on their union membership in 2003. - Associated Press/CBS Connecticut

Climate and Pension Activists Should Unite
... Climate activists rightfully demonize certain oil and coal companies blocking action on climate change. In this case, the demons are state legislators who don't act on CalSTRS's request because they know the cliff won't be reached during their terms in office. Even more cynically, this year California's legislators patted themselves on the back for a budget they claimed had a surplus but only because they ignored CalSTRS's request. - Huffington Post

Want more? For stories of interest to state employees, check out the State Worker's constantly updated News & Views feed by clicking here.

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Jerry Brown's approval of new hiring law prompts state actiontag:blogs.sacbee.com,2013:/the_state_worker//49.1086112013-10-14T19:32:00Z2013-10-14T19:32:20ZA new law that delays when California state and local public employers can ask job applicants about their criminal histories reflects existing state policy, but it still has state officials thinking about the measure's implications. Several weeks before Gov. Jerry...Jon OrtizA new law that delays when California state and local public employers can ask job applicants about their criminal histories reflects existing state policy, but it still has state officials thinking about the measure's implications.

Several weeks before Gov. Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 218 on Thursday, officials at the Department of Human Resources started meeting to discuss the law's potential impact on the 150 or so entities under gubernatorial authority.

"We really have tried to get ahead of this," CalHR spokeswoman Pat McConahay said in a telephone interview.

The measure, which takes effect July 1, 2014, requires state and local government employers hold off asking a job applicants whether they have a conviction record until after their minimum qualifications for the position are established. Assembly Bill 218 still permits up-front inquiries for jobs within a criminal justice agency and other positions that require a background check.

Government employers can ask anyone whether they have a criminal conviction record after the candidate's minimum qualifications have been established.

The state in 2010 moved two criminal-history questions from its standard job application to a supplemental form that departments distribute as needed. And any department can ask verbally or in writing whether a job candidate has a felony or domestic abuse record once the applicant has cleared minimum-requirement screening.

CalHR has been surveying how departments apply the policy (or haven't). The department intends to issue guidance and launch statewide training for best practices for recruiting, interviewing and checking references, McConahay said, because "we want to make it very clear."

PHOTO: Gov. Jerry Brown and first lady Anne Gust Brown share a moment with Sutter, the couple's dog, on Friday, Sept. 16, 2011, as the governor signs bills near his office in Sacramento. The Sacramento Bee/Hector Amezcua

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Sacbee.com comments closed for system changetag:blogs.sacbee.com,2013:/the_state_worker//49.1088412013-10-14T07:00:01Z2013-10-14T18:58:42ZSacbee.com is temporarily closing online comments today while programmers install changes that include a new social media sign-in system. Executive Editor Joyce Terhaar recently explained the rationale: "Sacbee.com is changing reader comments." Bee editors will host a live chat from...Jon Ortiz
Sacbee.com is temporarily closing online comments today while programmers install changes that include a new social media sign-in system.

Bee editors will host a live chat from noon to 1 p.m. today to share your questions and ideas on what comments at Sacbee.com should be like moving forward. You can join the event on the Bee Labs page by clicking here.

The discussion will be left open afterward so that you can continue to add your thoughts and feedback. Editors and staff will jump in and moderate and answer questions through the review period. And you can click here to send a letter to the editor to weigh in with your thoughts.

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Stanford think tank starts online course on retirement, pensionstag:blogs.sacbee.com,2013:/the_state_worker//49.1086212013-10-11T22:56:00Z2013-10-11T22:57:14ZThe conservative Hoover Institution at Stanford University is firing up an online, eight-week class on retirement finance, including a look at public pension systems. "Finance of Retirement and Pensions," starts Monday. Joshua Rauh, a Hoover senior fellow and professor of...Jon Ortiz
The conservative Hoover Institution at Stanford University is firing up an online, eight-week class on retirement finance, including a look at public pension systems.

"Finance of Retirement and Pensions," starts Monday. Joshua Rauh, a Hoover senior fellow and professor of finance at the university's Graduate School of Business, is teaching it. The course is free.

Stanford spokeswoman Katie Pandes said as of Friday some 20,000 people had signed up.

In January, the class culminates in a symposium titled "Innovative Ideas for the Future of U.S. Public Sector Pensions," to be held at the Stanford business school, according to a university press release. Click here for more information

The course -- and the publicity it brings -- is starting just as San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed is pushing to put a public pension initiative on the 2014 ballot.

Stanford has become a center of pro-pension-change thinking in the last few years. The university's Institute for Economic Policy Research has issued controversial assessments of California's public pension-system debt at the state and local levels. David Crane, former GOP Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's pension point man, is a research scholar at the economic policy institute.

VIDEO: Hoover Institution/NovoED

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Jerry Brown signs Richard Pan bill to limit state outsourcingtag:blogs.sacbee.com,2013:/the_state_worker//49.1086512013-10-11T20:46:10Z2013-10-11T20:47:03ZGov. Jerry Brown on Friday announced signing union-backed legislation aimed at making personal services contracts more transparent to unions. Assemblyman Richard Pan's measure originally limited so-called "personal services contracts" to two years with no more than one two-year extension. Unions...Jon OrtizGov. Jerry Brown on Friday announced signing union-backed legislation aimed at making personal services contracts more transparent to unions.

Assemblyman Richard Pan's measure originally limited so-called "personal services contracts" to two years with no more than one two-year extension. Unions rallied at the Capitol in support of the measure, arguing that the state spends billions of dollars on contract workers at far greater cost than hiring more state employees.

The legislation that Brown signed today is a far less aggressive measure than the one labor interests wanted. Assembly Bill 906 requires that departments merely notify affected unions before they execute a contract for personal services.

Lawmakers removed Pan's time-limit and contract-renewal provisions from the bill. The state may also sidestep the disclosure provision if the services are "necessary due to a sudden and unexpected occurrence that poses a clear and imminent danger, requiring immediate action to prevent or mitigate the loss or impairment of life, health, property, or essential public services."

Still, Pan and AFSCME declared victory in a press release that the Sacramento Democrat's office issued Friday afternoon, quoting union Assistant Director Willie Pelote as saying the new law "will help us build a system of oversight that California needs to prevent overspending on private contractors."

PHOTO: Assemblyman Richard Pan, D-Sacramento, during the first day of session at the California state Capitol in Sacramento on Monday, Dec. 3, 2012. The Sacramento Bee/Hector Amezcua

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California takes a small step toward exiting troubled high-rise HQtag:blogs.sacbee.com,2013:/the_state_worker//49.1067412013-10-11T16:47:31Z2013-10-11T16:48:27ZCalifornia officials have put out feelers for what it would take to leave the state's unofficial money pit -- AKA the Board of Equalization headquarters -- with an Oct. 31 deadline for responses from developers, landowners. politicians (hello, mayors of...Jon OrtizCalifornia officials have put out feelers for what it would take to leave the state's unofficial money pit -- AKA the Board of Equalization headquarters -- with an Oct. 31 deadline for responses from developers, landowners. politicians (hello, mayors of Rancho Cordova, Elk Grove, West Sacramento, etc.) and any other interested parties.

The "request for information" from the Department of General Services asks for ways to consolidate board operations that now spread more than 4,000 employees across several facilities in the Sacramento area, about half of them in the notorious 24-story tower at 450 N Street in Sacramento.

You can expect lots of ideas to build new space, since "there is no facility currently available in the Sacramento region that is large enough to house a consolidated BOE operation," Government Operations Secretary Marybel Batjer told Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg in this Sept. 26 letter obtained by The State Worker.

Steinberg, a Democrat whose Sacramento district includes the 20-year-old high rise, chairs the committee that confirmed Batjer's appointment to the newly-created agency in August. The BOE building came up during that hearing.

Fiscal and marketing obstacles are in the way of moving BOE, however, and the timeframes and costs are subject to change.

Bond debt on the facility stands at around $100 million and it's supposed to be paid off with BOE lease money by 2021. The state would have to pay the bondholders earlier to leave sooner and ante up funding for a new facility. State officials have estimated the 463,000-square-foot building could sit empty for a couple years to rehab it for new tenants.

Assuming that any could be found. The tower has a long history of well-known troubles, from leaking windows and toxic mold to faulty elevators and corroded plumbing. Workers are currently replacing hundreds of exterior panels after one popped off last year and crashed to the sidewalk below.

PHOTO: Wood panels cover openings where two glass windows popped out on the south side of the Board of Equalization building in 2005. Sacramento Bee/Jose Luis Villegas

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Jerry Brown signs bill to ban felony question on public job appstag:blogs.sacbee.com,2013:/the_state_worker//49.1085112013-10-10T23:34:00Z2013-10-11T01:08:17ZGov. Jerry Brown has signed a bill that bans government employers from asking job applicants about their criminal record until later in the hiring process, effectively extending the state's policy to some 6,000-plus local and regional government agencies in California....Jon OrtizGov. Jerry Brown has signed a bill that bans government employers from asking job applicants about their criminal record until later in the hiring process, effectively extending the state's policy to some 6,000-plus local and regional government agencies in California.

Assembly Bill 218, by Sacramento Democratic Assemblyman Roger Dickinson, requires public employers determine a job applicant's minimum qualifications before they ask about the person's conviction history.

Practically speaking, that means removing the check-box questions common on many applications that ask, "Have you ever been convicted of a felony?"

Once the law takes effect on July 1, 2014, employers will have to wait later in the hiring process to inquire about a job candidate's criminal past. Applications and initial interviews for jobs that by law require a conviction background check, such as police officers, are exempt. The state, for example, includes the question on a supplemental application form given for California Highway Patrol officer candidates.

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A least a half-dozen states have similar laws and local governments in 23 states de-emphasize criminal background checks, according to the National Employment Law Project, which favored the measure. In California, Alameda and Santa Clara counties, as well as Oakland, Berkeley and San Francisco have all removed the question from initial job applications.

California's law lends momentum to a growing "ban the box" movement by unions and civil rights groups already energized by recent federal warnings that using criminal background checks to screen initial applications is discriminatory.

The Obama administration has sued companies over their criminal-conviction screening policies, arguing that they discriminate against ethnic groups disproportionately convicted of crimes, such as Latinos and African Americans.

Local governments and coalitions, including the California State Association of Counties and the California District Attorneys Association, opposed Dickinson's measure, fearing it would undercut security, usurp local authority and erode public trust.

PHOTO: People wait to talk with PG&E representatives during a Sacramento job fair in 2009. The Sacramento Bee/Renée C. Byer

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San Jose mayor says he'll file pension initiative language soontag:blogs.sacbee.com,2013:/the_state_worker//49.1084712013-10-10T18:25:20Z2013-10-10T18:27:19ZSan Jose Mayor Chuck Reed said Wednesday that he will soon file papers to place a public pension measure before voters. 'I hope we'll in the position of filing for the title and summary in a few days," Reed said...Jon OrtizSan Jose Mayor Chuck Reed said Wednesday that he will soon file papers to place a public pension measure before voters.

'I hope we'll in the position of filing for the title and summary in a few days," Reed said during remarks at Stanford University's conservative Hoover Institution.

The Democratic mayor said that "time is of the essence" for cutting government pension obligations that he says have strained municipal budgets statewide. For several months Reed has been recruiting support for a measure that would alter California's constitution so that state and local governments could lower pensions prospectively for current employees, while keeping their earned benefits intact.

Prevailing legal wisdom says that retirement promises to current employees are constitutionally protected. A voter-approved rollback for San Jose city employees that Reed promoted is testing that theory in court.

Although lawmakers last year dialed down retirement benefits for new hires and required most current employees to contribute more toward their retirement funds, "we have to go further than the Legislature did in 2012," Reed told the Hoover audience.

Unions have rejected Reed's ideas and have challenged the San Jose law in court. A statewide measure would undoubtedly trigger a massive response from organized labor a la its successful campaign to defeat a 2012 initiative that would have made member-dues collection more difficult.

Experts figure Reed will need between $2 million and $4 million to collect the 1.3 million signatures required to qualify the measure for the November 2014 ballot. There are signs that a Texas millionaire is willing to kick in to the cause. Silicon Valley money from conservative backers such as Charles Munger Jr. could pour in as well.